A Kiss for the Ages
by Astrid Rose
Summary: WARNING: SPOILERS FOR DMC A dramatization of the “kiss of death” scene between Jack and Elizabeth. Oneshot. JE


**A Kiss for the Ages**

**Summary: **(WARNING: SPOILERS FOR DMC) A dramatization of the "kiss of death" scene between Jack and Elizabeth. One-shot. J/E

**Rating: K+**

**Author's Note: **Be warned, there are major spoilers ahead. If you aren't a spoiler hunter like I am, some of the content in this fic will ruin things in Dead Man's Chest for you, so if you do not want it to be spoiled, I strongly suggest reading no further. However, if you already know what happens, or you do not care if you know, then by all means, read. However, for those of you who _have not _read the spoilers, but would like to know what this is all about, I will give you some background information. First, Elizabeth has started caring for Jack in DMC, whether or not she admits it, and we already know that Jack has feelings for her. The "kiss of death" scene takes place at the end of DMC, when the kraken, the weapon of Davy Jones and his "pet," is about to attack the Black Pearl. Keep in mind that the kraken is after Jack because of his debt that he owes to Davy Jones, not anyone else. Elizabeth is forced to choose between Jack's life and the lives of everyone onboard the ship, including her. To save the lives of many, Elizabeth has to let the kraken kill Jack. So she kisses him and chains him to the mast of the ship. In no way does this make Elizabeth evil or a murderer, just a woman who must make a very difficult decision. It doesn't mean she cares for Jack any less.

This is how I think the "kiss of death" scene between Jack and Elizabeth will play out in DMC. I used actual words and phrases from one of the versions of the script to describe events, such as the description of the actual kiss. The "incredible kiss," "kiss for the ages," and "kiss that has been building since the day Jack and Elizabeth met" bits are all the real words from the script. In that part, I have changed nothing. Also some references to events in the movie prior to this scene are included.

ONE LAST NOTE: This kiss is not, I repeat, _NOT _the one you see in the trailer. That one is from the scene in which Jack proposes to Elizabeth. This is at the end of the movie, when the Black Pearl is being charged by the kraken.

**Disclaimer: **Ted Elliot and Terry Rossio own the script from which I have taken some things, and Disney owns the rest.

* * *

_**A Kiss for the Ages**_

By Astrid R.

* * *

Elizabeth paced restlessly about the captain's cabin, tossing the pistol she was carrying from one hand to the other. She was fuming. How could Jack do this to her? To the crew? Had he no sense of integrity in that rum-addled brain of his? She had lately come to conclude that Jack had no moral center whatsoever. Suddenly she recalled her statement to Norrington regarding Jack. "I simply trust him, and that is all," she had said. Now she wasn't entirely sure that she did. 

The noise of crew members running frantically about the deck and screams of "It's the kraken!" brought Elizabeth back to the present. She began unconsciously fingering the pistol that had ceased moving from hand to hand. She stopped pacing and fixed her iron gaze to the sea, from which this supposedly mythical beast was coming. Although she had learned to conceal her feelings since she had become a crewmember on the Black Pearl, at this moment, she was truly frightened for her life. For Will's life. The thought of she and Will meeting an untimely death because of Captain Jack Sparrow reminded her of her anger, and she felt the cold metal of the trigger underneath her finger. "If Jack was here now, I'd kill him," she thought menacingly.

Another round of terrified shrieks rose up from the crew as the kraken drew nearer and nearer. At this, Elizabeth picked up one of her swords from the map table and sheathed it in its hilt on her belt. With a strange mix of bravery and utter terror, she marched to the door and opened it. What awaited her on the other side of it, however, was not terrified crewmembers, nor was it a fearsome tentacled beast.

It was Jack.

"You!" Elizabeth cried incredulously.

"Me!" Jack replied.

"But you left! You left us all to die! Me, Will, the crew..." Elizabeth couldn't believe that the man standing before her was really Jack Sparrow.

"Apparently, Elizabeth," he said, plucking his pistol from her hand, "I did not."

"Oh," Elizabeth said, not able to find words to adequately evoke the anger and torment that had played out in her mind not five minutes before over Jack's departure.

Jack began pulling in the rowboats to the side of the ship. "We can still escape," he told her. "Gather up as many as you can. We'll make it out alive, you'll see."

As Jack hurriedly prepared the rowboats, Elizabeth did not move, watching him. Suddenly she realized that Jack hadn't been trying to simply save his own skin; that he hadn't cruelly left them to die like she'd thought he had. All within the span of half a minute, the comment she had made the other day to Jack came flooding back to her.

"I have faith in you, Jack, because you are a good man, although all current evidence points to the contrary," she had told him. "There will come a moment when you have the chance to do the right thing."

Elizabeth realized that her thoughts on Jack for the past ten minutes had been wrong. She'd thought that Jack had left them all to be killed by the kraken; he hadn't. He had been taking that chance to do the right thing.

Elizabeth slowly walked toward the now upright Jack, who was facing her. He seemed to be studying her very carefully.

"You came back," she said quietly, knowing that for all she had said to him earlier, she now sounded like a fool. She looked up and their eyes met. She paused for what she was going to say next.

"I always knew you were a good man."

---

Will was standing at the stairway leading down into the hull of the ship, trying to organize a strategy to fight off the sea beast that was rapidly descending upon them. He hadn't had the most relaxing nor the most enjoyable day, seeing as how he'd nearly been traded to Davy Jones as payment for Jack's soul and told that Jack was in love with Elizabeth, among other things. And now a sea monster, the kraken, was attacking the Pearl, and he would be lucky if he didn't die with it. He just wanted to go home to Port Royal with Elizabeth and finally marry her, and not have to worry about any of this anymore.

Then the thought of Elizabeth reminded him: where was she? He had not seen her for quite some time, which was worrisome at a time like this. Will climbed down from his post and looked up toward the railing.

He instantly wished he hadn't.

---

Elizabeth kissed Jack with such abandon that she didn't even realize what she was doing. She hadn't realized that she'd wanted to do this for so long. She wanted it so much, but in a way, it was more tragic than romantic because it was happening under such awful circumstances. However, she knew full well that Jack was about to die. She couldn't let him die without knowing. She couldn't.

Jack responded hungrily to Elizabeth's kiss, wanting this for so long. He hadn't been able to comprehend the depth of his desire before now. Since when had he started needing one woman, this woman, so badly? He'd been partially – well, mostly – serious when he'd proposed to her that day on this same spot, but he hadn't known the actual intensity of his want of her until this moment.

Theirs was an incredible kiss. It was a kiss for the ages; a kiss that had been building since the day they'd met. Elizabeth was slowly walking him back away from the railing towards the center of the deck as they kissed.

Suddenly, Jack felt his back hit against something hard – the mast of the ship. They broke the kiss, gasping for air. Jack looked into Elizabeth's eyes.

There was a 'click' sound.

Jack glanced down, confused, and saw his wrists manacled to the mast. And suddenly, he realized what she had done. He looked back at her.

Elizabeth would not meet his gaze. "It's after you, not the ship... not us. It's the only way."

Jack nodded, accepting the logic of what she had done. And that only caused him to desire her all the more, knowing that her true heart was the same as his. They were truly two peas in a pod. Elizabeth looked up, finally meeting his eyes.

"Pirate," Jack stated, admiration in his voice.

Elizabeth's eyes filled with tears. The word stung her, and she could no longer hold his intense gaze. She turned away, hating herself at that moment.

Jack watched her retreating back as she moved away from him. He had lost her again.

As her rowboat was moving away from the advancing kraken and the Pearl, leaving Jack behind, Elizabeth turned and allowed herself one last look at the pirate who had caused so much trouble and so much adventure in her life. The pirate whom, although she had not realized it until this moment, ultimately, she loved. But there would be no turning back now.

As the kraken drew nearer to the Pearl and Jack's figure grew more and more distant, Elizabeth knew that for all her foolishness and all her stubbornness, she really did care for him. She prayed to God that Jack would know that.


End file.
